VPAA Allyson Lowe to Speak on the Use of Service Learning in Teaching Conflict

Presentation is Monday, May 6

Trocaire College  Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Allyson Lowe and Sandi DiMola, J.D., Chair,  Programs in Government and Management at Carlow University, will present “The Use of Service-Learning in Teaching Conflict” on Monday, May 6. This event will take place in the Mary Clare Development Center (Main Campus Room 460) from 2-3:30 p.m., and all are invited to attend.

Lowe and DiMola wrote about the presentation topic in a chapter of “Conflict Zone/Comfort Zone: Ethics, Pedagogy, and Effecting Change in Field-Based Courses.”

“A frequent criticism of field-based learning is that what students are learning, as well as how they are learning it, differs so much from their other courses that it feels like a one-off occurrence. In designing two different service learning experiences, we were intent on using the field experiences to augment what students of political science were learning about conflict,” the authors explain in the book’s introduction.

“Their courses were designed to involve students in deliberative democracy and community conflict resolution and to connect these experiences directly to theory and case studies on the topic. At the same time, the service aspect of the courses reflects the commitment of the universities to civic engagement and community service understood through both secular and religious lenses.”

Both Trocaire and Carlow University were founded by the Sisters of Mercy, whose five critical concerns include nonviolence, anti-racism, earth, women and immigration.

“The May 6 session will spotlight Lowe and DiMola’s research and publication, which demonstrates scholarship rooted in the Sisters of Mercy values,” said Dawne Bost, MCDC faculty success coordinator.

Please contact Bost with any questions.